Bookanalia

In my life, I have won an inheritance and lost it. I have travelled through time and to the other side of the world. I have solved murders, experienced storybook romances, and discovered alternate universes. Which is to say: In my life, I have read. Academic tomes and romance novels, murder mysteries and classic literary fiction. Newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, and lots of product labels (but rarely user manuals).
Along the way, I earned a PhD and drank a lot of coffee.

*Insert Clever Metaphoric Titanic Headline Here*

With Sunday morning at 2:20 a.m. marking the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, the doomed ocean liner seems to be everywhere, a giant, ship-shaped shadow looming over our collective conscience. Just about everyone, it seems, has something to say about the vessel whose name has become shorthand for “cautionary tale: human hubris ahead.”

The reasons the catastrophe looms so large are as many as its victims, and no one of us can possible account for them all. But not least among them: the sinking of the purportedly unsinkable Titanic functions as a kind of floating archetype of our familiar pattern:

1.Build something (a person, an experience, a relationship, a thing) up such that our expectations of it are wildly unrealistic.

2.Watch as it all comes crashing down.

3.Be shocked and sad but also maybe wallow in it a little, in a schadenfreude-y kind of way. Because observing this pattern reminds us that we’re part of something bigger than us, namely the flawed nature of the human condition.

The blitz coverage and commemorative events can cause such colossal overwhelm that there’s just no way to process it all. In those moments, I’m inclined to return to the human stories, the individual acts of heroism, or even just survival, that can teach us how to live within this eternally recurring pattern. (Acts of cowardice can also be instructive, in an Oh snap, that is NOT who I want to be kind of way.)

But with so much reading material--enough to sink a ship, really--where is one to begin? Here are three interesting places to start. Even if you don't read anything else, these will provide the briefest peek into the experience from the very human perspective of surviving a catastrophic event.

“Lifeboat No. 8: An Untold Tale Of Love, Loss, And Surviving The Titanic” by Elizabeth Kaye

Journalist Kaye skillfully compresses the many cultural narratives that swirl around the Titanic into the stories of Lifeboat No. 8’s passengers. The story, published as a Kindle Single, begins with where each passenger was when the ship hit the iceberg and follows them through the end of their journey, also delving into what brought them onto the Titanic.

The most poignant story, though, concerns who was not in that boat as it was lowered into the frigid waters: Ida Straus, wife of Isidor Straus, owner of Macy’s department store. Mrs. Straus followed her maid, Ellen Bird, into the lifeboat only to step out moments later. She refused to leave her husband’s side. Ignoring pleas to return to the lifeboat, Mrs. Straus instead handed her fur coat to Bird, reportedly telling her, “It will be cold in the lifeboat, and I won’t be needing it anymore.”

On Saturday evening, New Canaan, Conn.’s Roger Sherman Inn hosted a reenactment of the final dinner aboard the Titanic. I had a strong emotional reaction to this idea, in a bad way, but reenactments have a long history and serve a particular function—to provide a visceral experience of a lost age and thus a connection to those who have preceded us and to their experiences. The dinner benefited, fittingly, the American Red Cross, which assisted Titanic survivors. Jha’s article provides details about the idea behind the dinner and also acquaints readers with the well-received “Starboard at Midnight” by Helen Behr Sanford, whose grandparents survived the sinking. Should you wish to pursue additional reading, a book written from a relative of survivors could be the ticket (oh, look, I made a pun without intending to).

Curious to know what books passengers may have been reading on their doomed voyage, Abrams researched what titles were bestsellers at the time. The list is interesting and telling and offers a (possibly) shared experience with the lost. Though Abrams may want to do a follow-up piece. One commenter noted that since the ship sailed from Europe, some British titles may have also been on nightstands.

Besides reading, when I want to understand something, I often find myself seeking out artifacts, physical things that function as tangible links between my world and others' because they point to some shared human experience or need--a writing desk, a set of letters, a comb. Each of these opens up the foreign through the familiar and unites us through our common physical experiences and needs.

An upcoming exhibit at Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum in Norwalk, Conn., Titanic: Commemorating the 100thAnniversary, offers an opportunity to explore the tragedy through the life and artifacts of Titanic survivor Helen Chruchill Candee, who grew up in New York and Connecticut. It opens to the public on April 25 at 12 p.m. and will run through October 14.

The exhibit will focus on the life and experiences of Candee, whose daughter was married to one of the Mansion’s owners at the turn of the century. Of the exhibit, the museum website explains, “Photos, books, articles, letters, costumes, and artifacts, many of which have never been publicly exhibited, will interpret the history, customs, and fashions of American life in the early part of the 20 Century, allowing visitors to capture a glimpse of the Edwardian era.”

Candee, who attended school in Norwalk and New Haven, was herself an intriguing figure. The women’s rights advocate, author, and journalist wrote “How Women May Earn a Living” in 1900 and published articles in National Geographic, Atlantic Monthly, and the Ladies’ Home Journal. She served as a nurse in Italy during World War I through the Red Cross and traveled widely, publishing and lecturing about her experiences.

In Europe during the spring of 1912, Candee was rushing home to be with her son, who had been in an accent, when she booked passage on the Titanic. She escaped on Lifeboat No. 6, the same boat that carried ‘Unsinkable’ Molly Brown.

How are you or your towns and cities commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking?

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Comments

Thank you for posting this. There has been a lot of coverage about the Titanic - but why not? So many people died, and as you point out, it was just such a story, touching on hubris and so much else that's within us. When I was in the US, I made a trip to Barnes & Noble where, in the bargain books section, I came upon "Titanic Love Stories" by Gill Paul, a fascinating and well-made book packed with photos that revolves around the 13 honeymooning couples who were on the Titanic. It's full of fascinating facts (including some very sad stories about the pet dogs who were on the ship). The boyfriend and I can't put it down. I saw the Kindle Single ad for "Lifeboat No. 8" and have been tempted to purchase it. Your approval makes me even more persuaded.... I'm also looking forward to reading "Shadow of the Titanic", about those who survived.

I guess you could say I'm a little obsessed - but not really. I just like a fascinating story, and what happened to the Titanic and those aboard is one of those. I feel so sorry for all of them (including the animals, who are often forgotten). Thanks for sharing these ways the event was commemorated and remembered.

Sally,thank you for sharing your work here and the links and the analysis on the works about Titanic and the stories behind and from the story.It is a saying here in Greece that we all sometime in life have our Titanic..meaning a broken heart a broken health..a broken life..For us just metaρhor in our minds..but a tragedy in true life and for those that lost their life...Thank you Sally for your informative work here.National Geograρhic,also, has the work of James Cameron,with images of the wreck and stories...Rated with best regards.

Oh, Alysa, I want that book about the honeymooning couples on the Titanic, though I do have to think about why this is level of tragedy is so compelling to me. I have to say, each and every time I read about the Straus couple, I get so choked up. I guess it's because that level of devotion just blows me away. It's a great example of beauty coming out of suffering/tragedy. The other story that I have a strong reaction to is the band playing on until the last moment. I started reading "A Night to Remember" last night, and Candee (the woman whose artifacts are featured in the above exhibit) is in it. Also, I thought of Abrams' piece: there's a description of a man sitting in one of the First Class rooms and reading, while the ship is sinking. It gives me such chills.

Thank you so much for your kind words, Stathi! I do think the Titanic acts as a metaphor on so many levels, and this is why the story continues to stay with us. It has burrowed itself so deeply into how we understand ourselves, I think.

Thanks for sharing your perspective on a story that has been getting a lot of press (again) recently. Re: Ida Straus. My favorite park in Manhattan is a tiny "pocket park" created in memory of the members of the Straus family who died on the Titanic. Straus park is one of the most beautiful, peaceful places in the city. When I still lived in Manhattan, I used to go there to pray most evenings in warm weather.